The books of Mois Benarroch: Review by joel sadi -- The Immigrant's Lament

Review by joel sadi -- The Immigrant's Lament

3 out of 4 stars

Review by joel sadi

Share This Review

The book "The Immigrant's lament" is a book by Mois Benarroch, consist of an autobiography and a collection of poems. Mois Benarroch referred to himself as 'Moshe', as he captures his beautiful memorable childhood. Spend his early days in Morocco where he was the centre of attraction among peers, as revealed by his detail autobiography. He studied physics and mathematics, he hesitated on the nudge to write poems as he didn't want to write what everyone expects from a Moroccan poet. Beginning to express his poetic skills he wrote a novel in three (3) weeks, wrote thousand poems and about 10 novels. He delight in listening to music and writing. He considers his childhood as insensitive. 'Moshe's poetic expressions gain prominent in Israel.

The poems in The Immigrant's Lament have various themes ranging from marriage (i.e in 'ups and down'), jealousy (i.e in 'your thousand lovers'), loneliness as seen in 'nothing I had rather do'. Love is the predominant theme as seen in poems like; 'salty love' and 'she writes a diary', among others. The writer is the main speaker in various poems as they were the expressions of his heart.

Philosophical expressions ranges from that of optimism as captured in 'my poems' where the writer said in the fourth line "I am tired of peace agreements, I just want to see less people dead". Poems like 'postcard' are optimistic in expression. Religious poetic expression are seen in 'highs and lows' and 'birds on temple mount'. 'kloom' is educational while mystic philosophical expressions are seen in 'cosmic DNA' and 'another place'.

The ballads (poems that tells a story) were the category of poems that appeal most to me. They appear real and easy to relate with, examples of such poems include; 'speech of a man after the birth of his first son' which expresses the lament of a man who needed the attention of a woman deeply engross in the beauty of her baby boy. The 'speech of rabbi Akiva' expressing the lamentation of a man who enjoyed the presence of a lost/missing wife. Along side poems like 'les entrailles du poete' a story line that point across a controversial collection of poems in various language which were understood, except for one of the poems which matches no known language. Other poems where not written as ballads, the collection of such poems were unappealing to me. Such poems include 'my friend', 'birds on temple mount', 'the shore of the other' among few others. They were less captivating because they appear abstract and irrelative to my experiences.

I enjoyed the book "The Immigrant lament" I hear by rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. 2 stars is an under rating for such a captivating poetry, but 4 stars is not obtainable either as a whole chunk of the book both opening and closure (self portrait of the poet in a family mirror). This book will appeal to both young adult and old, married or single, but possibly least to the teens.

******
The Immigrant's Lament

Read The immigrant's Lament in

Hebrew עברית http://www.lulu.com/shop/paperback/product-21664144.html

Francais https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1507144415

Español https://www.amazon.es/dp/1507122713/

Portugues https://www.amazon.com/dp/1507118074

Italiano https://www.amazon.it/dp/1507130104

English https://www.amazon.com/dp/1519012616

Bilingual edition Hebrew/English http://www.lulu.com/shop/mois-benarroch/paperback/product-21661852.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1409218163

View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon